Ladder support spacer

ABSTRACT

A support and spacer device for ladders, especially suitable for use with scaffold structures, the device including a downwardly opening U-shaped hook supporting a rectangular frame having a diagonal brace. U-bolts are provided to surround the vertical side portion of a ladder, above and below a rung, and penetrate the side of the rectangle opposite the hook portion. The structure is advantageously made from a single piece of strap steel, one end thereof being formed into the U-shaped hook and the remainder thereof being bent, in four bends, into a rectangle having the diagonal brace. Two welds and five holes complete the structure which is normally used in pairs, more than one pair being advantageously employed with a movable scaffold or the like.

United States Patent 1191 Barnes LADDER SUPPORT SPACER [76], Inventor: Donnie G. Barnes, 2339 Truman Avenue, Pensacola, Fla. 32505 [22] Filed: Dec. 10,1971

[21] Appl. No.: 206,629

[52] US. Cl 248/229, 182/115, 182/127, 182/214 [51] Int. Cl. F1611! 13/02 [58] Field of Search 248/201, 214, 215, 248/229, 340; 182/93, 115, 127, 206, 214

[56] References Cited v UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,34 98.2 5/1920 v Ruple ...j 248/214 1 FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS I 1,143,310 2ll963 Germany 248/243 772,503 4/1957 Great Britain..... 182/93 623,906 5/1949 Great Britain 182/93 1 June 26, 1973 Primary Examiner-William l-I. Schultz Attorney-D. C. Roylance et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A support and spacer device for ladders, especially suitable for use with scaffold structures, the device including a downwardly opening U-shaped hook supporting a rectangular frame having a diagonal brace. U- bolts are provided to surround the vertical side portion of a ladder, above and below a rung, and penetrate the side of the rectangle opposite the hook portion. The structure is advantageously made from a single piece of strap steel, one end thereof being formed into the U- shaped hook and the remainder thereof being bent, in four bends, into a rectangle having the diagonal brace. Two welds and five holes complete the structure which is normally used in pairs, more than one pair being advantageously employed with a movable scaffold or the like.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures LADDER SUPPORT SPACER This invention relates to a device for supporting and spacing a ladder from a scaffold or the like.

It is frequently desirable to attach a ladder to a scaffold, the scaffold itself being normally constructed from a plurality of standard crosspieces and joint fixtures to whatever height and breadth is required for a specific task. It is also common practice to construct a scaffold with large casters or wheels for the purpose of moving the scaffold to multiple places within a work area. Such scaffolds, having been constructed from the standard crosspieces and joint fixtures, is not provided with means for ascending to the topthereof, and it is therefore necessary to provide a ladder.

However, it is not adequate to simply attach the ladder directly to-the scaffold because the members of the scaffold conflict with the rungs of the ladder in an unpredictable manner, creating a number of possibly hazardous circumstances. Specifically, if a crosspiece lies adjacent a rung but slightly higher than a rung, and if a workman places his foot upon the crosspiece together with the rung, it is possible for the two members to act like a slippery, slanted surface, causing the foot'to slide backwards and causing the worker to lose his position. Similarly,,if the rung is somewhat lower than the crosspiece a foot can be caught between thetwo, causing a painful flexure thereof.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a support and spacer for attaching a ladderto a scaffold or the like, wherein the spacer separates the ladder from the scaffold by a distancewhich issufficient to prevent dangerous circumstances from. arising, but keeps the ladder close enough to the scaffold to be functional.

A further object is to provide such a support and spacer which maintains the ladder in safe, firm relationship to the scaffold.

Yet another object is to provide a spacer of the above description which is strong, durable, easily constructed and relatively inexpensive. 1

Broadly described, the device'of the present invention includes a rectangular spacer portion and a hook portion, the two being joined by a vertical section which is of sufficient length to span two horizontal crossmembers of a scaffold structure. Thespacer portion is rectangular and is provided with U-bolts to grasp and hold the ladder and a retainer boltacross the span of the hook to "preventthe' hook from being inadvertently dislodged.

In order that the manner in which the foregoing and other objects are attained in accordance with the invention can be understood in detail, a particularly advantageous embodiment thereof will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a movablescaffold and ladder showing a typical advantageous use of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of thedevice of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front elevationof thedevice of FIG. 2; and FIG. 4 is a plan view of the apparatus of FIGS. 2 and 3.

In FIG. 1, a portable scaffold is schematically indicated generally at 10, the scaffold being provided with a plurality of vertical members 1], horizontal members l2, and diagonal bracing members 13. The scaffold can be of any desired height, and is shown only in a typical configuration. As shown in FIG. 1, the scaffold is provided with relatively large wheels or casters 14 by which it can be easily transported from one location to another on a construction site.

As shown in FIG. 1, it is customary to construct a scaffold of this'type in sections, each section having upper and lower horizontal members, vertical corner members and diagonal braces extending between the corners of each square appearing in a side of the section. Adjacent sections are coupled together in such a manner that the upper horizontal members of one section and the lower horizontal members of the next higher section are closer together than the upper and lower members of a single section. The apparatus of the present invention is designed to take advantage of this characteristic in supporting a ladder, indicated generally at 15, adjacent one side of the scaffold.

In FIG. 1, brace members in accordance with the present invention are shown at 16, 17 and 18. It will be recognized that brace 16 is accompanied by an identical brace on the opposite vertical section of the ladder, only one being visible in the side elevation of FIG. 1.

The brace 16, being typical, is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 24,wherein the device is seen to include a hook portion 20 which is formed by bending one end of a strap of metal into a U-shaped having a distal leg 21 and an inner leg 22. Legs 21 and 22 are provided with holes 23 and 24 which are in alignment with each other to receive a threaded bolt 25 or the like. Bolt 25 can be held in place by a nut 26 after the hook 20 has been placed over a horizontal brace member such as a brace 12 of the scaffold of FIG. 1. Thereafter, bolt 25 prevents the hook from being inadvertently dislodged by upward movement of the ladder assembly.

Leg 22 extends downwardly beyond the span of hook 20' fora distance which is adequate to extend downwardly beyond the next horizontal brace member 12 of the scaffold or the like with which the brace is being used. The lower portion 27 of leg 22 forms one side of a rectangle. The rectangle is formed by bending the remainder of the strap material from which the device is made into a shape having sides 28, 29 and 30 and having a diagonal portion 31. It will be seen that the bend 32 between portions 30 and 31 can advantageously be made first, afterwhich the strap can be bent to form the corners between sides 29 and 30, sides 28 and 29 and sides 27 and 28. Side 31 is initially chosen as the hypotenuse of the triangle formed by sides 29 and 30 so that, after all bends have been made, corner 32 can be welded to the portion of leg 22 adjacent to the exterior of that corner, forming a relatively rigid, rectangular brace and supportmember. For additional strength, the distal end of portion 31 can be welded to the corner of the rectangle opposite the first weld, forming thereby two triangles, a strong'and rigid structure.

Side 29 of the rectangle is provided with pairs of openings 35 and 36, these pairs of openings being properly spaced to receive the legs of U-bolts 37 and 38 which can be held in place by pairs of internally threaded nut members 39 and 40. Holes 35 and 36 are spaced to receive U-bolts of sufficient size to each surround one leg of a ladder such as ladder 15, thereby firmly holding that ladder leg in contiguous parallel relationship to side 29. As'previously described, a second member identical to that shown is connected to the opposite side of the ladder to similarly brace and support that side.

As will be seen, the above described device constitutes a rigid member which is, when made of an appropriate material such as strap steel, capable of supporting a ladder, and capable similarly of spacing the ladder a distance from any portion of the scaffold structure,

thereby promoting the safe use of the structure and of the ladder associated therewith.

It will be recognized from the foregoing that the rectangle portion of the brace can advantageously constitute a square having 8-inch sides, and that the distance from the upper extreme of the square (side 30) to the end of the hook is also advantageously 8 inches. However, the dimensions can be altered to suit the environment of use.

While one advantageous embodiment has been chosen to illustrate the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A ladder support and spacer structure comprising first, second, third and fourth brace members rigidly connected to each other to form a rectangle;

a fifth brace member extending diagonally across said rectangle and connected to opposite corners thereof;

said first and third brace members being parallel to each other;

said first brace member being longer than said third brace member and being connected in said rectangle with one end thereof extending beyond the limits of said rectangle in a direction perpendicular to said second brace member;

a U-shaped hook rigidly connected to said first brace member and opening in a direction parallel to said first and third brace members; and

means connectable to said third brace member to hold a ladder leg in parallel contiguous relationsip thereto.

2. A structure according to claim 1 wherein said rectangle is a square, and said hook and said brace members are all formed from a single metal strap.

3. A structure according to claim 2 wherein the distance between said square and the bend of said hook is at least as great as the length of a side of said square.

4. A device usable in pairs for supporting and spacing a ladder from an adjoining structure comprising:

first, second, third and fourth brace members rigidly connected to each other to form a rectangle, all of said members being formed from a single metal strap;

a fifth brace member extending diagonally across said rectangle from the lower corner made by the third and fourth brace members upward toward the corner made by the first and second brace members and connected to said corners by means of a weld;

said first and third brace members being parallel to each other, said third brace member having two pairs of apertures, each pair being aligned perpendicularly with respect to said third brace member;

said first brace member being longer than said third brace member and connected in said rectangle so that one end thereof extends above the limits of said rectangle perpendicular to said second brace member;

a U-shaped hook rigidly attached to said first brace member, said hook opening downwardly and in a direction parallel to the plane of said third brace member, said U-shaped hook having opposed faces provided with aligned apertures;

threaded bolt means inserted through said aligned apertures in said hook faces for detachably enclosing a portion of the adjoining structure with said U-shaped hook;

a plurality of threaded U-bolts for clamping the ladder leg above and below a ladder rung, said U-bolts extending through said pairs of apertures in said third brace member for detachably fastening the ladder leg in parallel contiguous relationship to said support and spacer device. 

1. A ladder support and spacer structure comprising first, second, third and fourth brace members rigidly connected to each other to form a rectangle; a fifth brace member extending diagonally across said rectangle and connected to opposite corners thereof; said first and third brace members being parallel to each other; said first brace member being longer than said third brace member and being connected in said rectangle with one end thereof extending beyond the limits of said rectangle in a direction perpendicular to said second brace member; a U-shaped hook rigidly connected to said first brace member and opening in a direction parallel to said first and third brace members; and means connectable to said third brace member to hold a ladder leg in parallel contiguous relationsip thereto.
 2. A structure according to claim 1 wherein said rectangle is a square, and said hook and said brace members are all formed from a single metal strap.
 3. A structure according to claim 2 wherein the distance between said square and the bend of said hook is at least as great as the length of a side of said square.
 4. A device usable in pairs for supporting and spacing a ladder from an adjoining structure comprising: first, second, third and fourth brace members rigidly connected to each other to form a rectangle, all of said members being formed from a single metal strap; a fifth brace member extending diagonally across said rectangle from the lower corner made by the third and fourth brace members upward toward the corner made by the first and second brace members and connected to said corners by means of a weld; said first and third brace members being parallel to each other, said third brace member having two pairs of apertures, each pair being aligned perpendicularly with respect to said third brace member; said first brace member being longer than said third brace member and connected in said rectangle so that one end thereof extends above the limits of said rectangle perpendicular to said second brace member; a U-shaped hook rigidly attached to said first brace member, said hook opening downwardly and in a direction parallel to the plane of said third brace member, said U-shaped hook having opposed faces provided with aligned apertures; threaded bolt means inserted through said aligned apertures in said hook faces for detachably enclosing a portion of the adjoining structure with said U-shaped hook; a plurality of threaded U-bolts for clamping the ladder leg above and below a ladder rung, said U-bolts extending through said pairs of apertures in said third brace member for detachably fastening the ladder leg in parallel contiguous relationship to said support and spacer device. 